Dark Sky Movement
Hundreds of cities and counties are trying to curb bright lights, in an effort to promote the ‘dark sky’ movement. The Dark Sky movement aims to make the Milky Way visible to more people across the USA . At least a dozen states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico and Texas among them – have lighting laws covering highways and state projects.
The movement started with professional and amateur astronomers who were alarmed that nocturnal glow from urban areas was blotting out the sight of stars.
The dark-sky movement’s main activity is to encourage the use of full cutoff lights, that cast little or no light upward, in public areas and generally to encourage communities to adopt lighting regulations.
National Dark-Sky Week is a week during which people all over the United States turn out their lights in order to observe the beauty of the night sky without light pollution. This event was started by Jennifer Barlow of Midlothian, Virginia in 2002, and its popularity and participation increases every year. It has been endorsed by the International Dark-Sky Association, American Astronomical Society, and the Astronomical League.
This event always occurs in April, during the week of the new moon so that the sky can be as dark as possible for optimum seeing conditions.
“It is my wish that people see the night sky in all of its glory, without excess light in the sky as our ancestors saw it hundreds of years ago,” explains Barlow.
The goals of the event are to: temporarily reduce light pollution and raise awareness about its effects on the night sky, encourage the use of better lighting systems that direct light downward instead of into the sky, and promote the study of astronomy.
Jennifer Barlow states, “The night sky is a gift of such tremendous beauty that should not be hidden under a blanket of wasted light. It should be visible so that future generations do not lose touch with the wonder of our universe.”
You can get more information on International Dark Sky projects by visiting: http://www.darksky.org/
